Another Dismal Week for Mortgage Rates

A sense of stagnancy continued to permeate the mortgage rates environment, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.43 percent for the week ending August 18, down from last week when it averaged 3.45 percent, while the 15-year FRM this week averaged 2.74 percent, down from last week when it averaged 2.76 percent. There was a smidgen of good news with the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage: it averaged 2.76 percent this week, up from last week when it averaged 2.74 percent.

“For eight consecutive weeks mortgage rates have ranged between 3.41 and 3.48 percent,” said Sean Becketti, chief economist at Freddie Mac. “Inflation is not adding any upward pressure on interest rates as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index was unchanged in July.”